McKenzie's Top 5 UFA trade deadline targets

Bob McKenzie was on NBCSN’s NHL Live on Wednesday evening.

On if next year's salary cap worries are impacting the trade scene:

“No question about it. What's happened is any player with significant term or dollars, teams are shying away from - because nobody knows what the cap is going to be. It could be the same. It could be more. It could be a little bit less. But there's a lot of concern about taking on term and contracts.

"So the hottest commodities right now are the unrestricted free agents. The guys who have contracts expiring at the end of the year. And most of them, the going rate is a second round pick and a prospect. Or just a second round pick. Or sometimes a first round pick and a prospect.

"The Top 5 guys who, in my mind, that are generating a lot of interest would be Antoine Vermette from the Arizona Coyotes. He might be a guy that would get a first round pick and a prospect for the rebuilding Coyotes.

"His teammate, Zbynek Michalek, could end up getting a second or third round pick for him. Andrej Sekera - the Carolina Hurricanes are negotiating and talking to him right now, but it's going to be difficult to meet the numbers that he would like to get. So if he's in play, that would be a big one. There's lots of teams that are interested in a defenseman that can put up the kind of points.

"The Toronto Maple Leafs, Cody Franson. I mentioned Nashville. Cody Franson used to play in Nashville. They would have some interest in him. Anaheim would have some interest in him.

"And Daniel Winnik is getting all sorts of interest as well. The Pittsburgh Penguins, the Winnipeg Jets are amongst the teams that have inquired about Daniel Winnik. I think there are offers on the table for the Leafs as they go through this rebuilding.

"I should also mentioned that general manager Dave Nonis - when his team played the Nashville Predators last night, he stayed because he wants to be there for that Anaheim-Nashville game tomorrow night. The expectation is the Nonis would like to talk turkey both with David Poile and Bob Murray of the Ducks because they've got these assets.

"Mike Santorelli is another guy on the Toronto Maple Leafs who is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. Nashville knows him well. I would suspect Nashville has interest in guys like Santorelli and Franson."

Source: NBCSN/ Transcript: Nichols on Hockey

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